Large numbers of digital files of photos are being created and stored on many computers and devices (e.g., home computers, friends computers, digital cameras, mobile phones, etc.) and with many online social or image networking services (e.g., MySpace®, Flick®, and Facebook®). Not surprisingly, these photos are highly valued by those that created or received them.
Of equal value is the information related to the photos. This information may include, for example, where and when a photo was taken, who is in the photo, comments from loved ones, other related photos, various edits to the photo, designated album, and so on. This is analogous to what a person may do when organizing hardcopy photos. For example, after having a roll of film developed and receiving a packet of photos, a person may take the time to choose the photos most meaningful to them (e.g., photos that capture an important memory). They may then write on the back of the photo the date it was taken and who is in the photo. The photo may then be placed in an album for the coffee table. This related information is usually very important and often grows in value as time goes on. People who tragically lose their home and possessions to, for example, a fire, often say the family photographs are one of the few things that cannot be replaced.
With the onset of the digital age and the Internet, the rate at which photos and their related information are created has increased dramatically. However, without a method of saying these photos and the related information for future use, these collections become ephemeral. For example, large numbers of photos may be lost when users switch from one social network to another. Many photos also may be lost when a person replaces their old cell phone with a new smart phone.
Because of the ease with which digital files can be transferred, people often end up with multiple copies of their files on different computers with different related data, which makes management and long-term storage of those files problematic. Current manual methods of “backing up” these photo files involve downloading the files to a local computer. There is currently no known logic to capture, understand, and organize the collection relevant to the related information. The result is often multiple copies of prized photos stored in a random folder on a hard drive, which is just as unmanageable as scattered hardcopy photos found in drawers and shoe boxes throughout a house.
There is currently no known easy way of backing up copies of photos and related information should, for example, users abandon their current social networking or hosting service or have their online account compromised. If a person routinely backs up their photos from, e.g., their digital camera, cell phone, social network, and/or online photo service, they may very likely end up with four or more copies of every photo, many directories, and no cohesive collection of all the comments, tags, albums, and other information they have associated with the photos. In particular, no known photo archival service identifies whether a photo is a new submission or a copy of a photo already stored in the archive. Also, there is no known photo archival service that collects, stores, and associates with a single record in the archive related photo information received from multiple sources for a particular photo. That is, known archival services typically just create a new record for each piece of photo-related information received.